Lower Bass Camp to Stone Creek

Tuesday December 3rd, 2013
This morning when we got up there was a mix of sun and cloud and the temperature was above freezing. We packed up and ran Shinumo (4), Hakatai (4), Walthenberg (6) and a lot of other smaller rapids. We met a solo kayaker who was paddling the Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek, the same as us, but in only 9 days. He was travelling light and fast. We gave him a couple of beers but there was nothing else that he needed.

 Partway through the day, we stopped at a small slot canyon called Elves' Chasm. We climbed up about 100 metres to a waterfall and pool. It's possible to climb up behind the big boulders in the waterfall and jump off into the pool. Some of our group took the leap, like Sass in the picture.

 In the afternoon we camped at Upper Blacktail campsite and walked up the Blacktail slot canyon a few hundred metres.

 The way the streams have eroded these narrow slot canyons is always interesting.

I set up my tent on a nice sandbar at the mouth of the canyon, a little ways away from our main kitchen area. It looked like a great spot for the nice warm weather we were having in the afternoon. A warm front came through and the temperature rose to about 18C. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. In the evening and early in the night, big gusts of wind covered everything in my tent with about 1/16 of an inch of sand. The sand is so fine that it will go right through a tent screen, even though I had my vestibules closed. As I went to sleep, I could feel the sand landing on my face.
At 3 am I woke to the sound of the wind howling and the rain pelting down. The pegs pulled out of the sand on one of my vestibule flaps so in the morning I discovered that my boots, camp slippers and socks were all wet. It was one of those nights when you just snuggle up in your sleeping bag and hope for the best. There's nothing else to do.

Wednesday, December 4th, 2013
By 7 am the rain had stopped and the temperature was a bit above freezing. The wind wasn't as bad but it felt cold. We had breakfast and had the rafts loaded by 10 am at which point there was a little bit of rain/snow mix. It was a cold morning but the scenery still looked good.

 Another group had camped below us at Lower Blacktail. Dan had gone down to meet them and discovered that they were mostly forest fire fighters from Idaho. In the morning, they pulled out earlier than we did.
Zack decided to kayak so Jeff Bos took over the oars on our raft and partway through the day Clo joined us. There were strong headwinds through the morning so we had to row hard. We ran 122 Mile (4), Forster (5), Fossil (5), 127 Mile (3), 128 Mile (3), Specter (6), Bedrock (7) and Deubendorff (7) rapids, along with some smaller ones. Just after lunch, Clo and I were sitting on the gear at the back of the raft to stay dry when we went through a small rapid. One of the waves bounced Clo out but she managed to hang onto the side so I grabbed her by the lifejacket and pulled her back in.
As we approached Bedrock Rapid, we could see the Idaho group scouting from shore. Zack, in a kayak, was scouting for us. When they saw him starting to enter the rapid, they cheered. He responded by pulling his open can of beer out of the top of his pfd and saluting them with a drink. They cheered some more and he floated down the rapid without a paddle stroke. They had seemed a little nervous so maybe that put them at ease.
Jeff, like the rest of our group, took a good line at the top of the rapid so we were easily able to make the right channel around the big rock in the middle and avoid the hazardous left channel. One of the Idaho rafts wasn't so lucky. They went to the left, dump-trucked (went right up on end) and almost got pinned on a rock. One of the women fell out and was caught in a nasty re-circulating eddy until Dan, who was waiting there in a kayak just in case, rescued her. She was okay but got a pretty good scare.
By 3:30 pm we camped at Stone Creek at mile 132.5. It was promising to be a cold night.
The Idaho group arrived later and not wanting to go further, camped on the sand bar just downstream. They were setting up their kitchen almost in front of my tent when Zack asked them if he could help them move a little further down in case they wanted to stay up late and be noisy. They were very friendly and agreed right away. After Dan's rescue heroics, I don't think we could do any wrong.

 That night we all gathered around a big fire to have a few drinks and stay warm.

At some point, it was decided that we would send Matt in his sasquatch suit down to hand the Idaho group a note inviting them up for a party. He needed a note since obviously sasquatches don't talk (as far as we know). It was dark and treacherous and Matt can't see well in the suit anyway, so Annie had to lead him down to their camp. In a short time, most of them came up to our fire. One guy turned out to be a fine musician on guitar, harmonica and vocals so he jammed with Andy, Duane and the rest of the chorus. It was apparently an epic night that lasted until 1 am although I only managed to hang in until 10:15 pm, which was still a couple of hours past my usual bedtime.